Ex-ballet dancer, 80, tasered by gun cops ... looking for black suspect in his 30s
ARmED police tasered an 80-year-old former ballet dancer in his kitchen after allegedly mixing up his address with a black suspect in his 30s.
Roy morton – who suffers from a heart condition – was woken by officers who smashed through his front door, fired the stun gun, pinned him down and handcuffed him.
The terrified father of two, who now works in film and television, was later told police had actually intended to raid the home of another man who was suspected of possessing a firearm and attacking a woman.
mr morton said he could have been killed by the 50,000-volt weapon during the raid on his four-bedroom home in Cricklewood, north-west london, last Tuesday. He condemned Scotland Yard commissioner Cressida Dick for the
‘What sort of training do they get?’
mix-up and said it had chilling echoes of the death of Jean Charles De menezes in 2005.
Dame Cressida oversaw the fatal operation in which the innocent electrician was mistaken for a terrorist and shot dead on the Tube.
Describing the moment armed officers burst into his kitchen at 7am, mr morton told the Daily mail: ‘I was wearing my pyjamas just standing there on the tiled floor wondering desperately what the hell was going on.
‘At least four police in full gear carrying machine guns were shining dazzling bright torches in my face, all shouting and screaming something unintelligible at me. They gave me no instructions, nothing.
‘Suddenly one of them fired this Taser at me and the electricity started zapping. It hit me in the stomach and the top of my leg and I fell to the floor of the kitchen, helpless. ‘Then they jumped on me, kneeling on my back to pin me onto the tiled floor, twisting my arms behind my back and handcuffing me and telling me I was under arrest for affray.’ Describing his ‘state of shock and confusion’, he said officers then watched him get dressed and go to the toilet before taking him away. mr morton – who was fitted with a pacemaker 25 years ago for a condition called heart block – said he was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in north london after the arrest to have the device examined.
He was later transferred to Colindale Police Station in a ‘filthy’ police van where he was told about the mix-up.
‘I was told the officers who raided my home had in fact been looking for a 6ft black man in his 30s who lived in a flat and who may have been armed,’ he said. ‘I am white, I’m 80 years old, I’m 5ft 8 and I live in a house. I was not a threat to anyone... I could have died.
‘What sort of training do they give these people? How could they possibly justify using such a weapon on a pensioner in his own home?’
mr morton was eventually told he would be taken back home – almost 12 hours after he was arrested.
Although he said officers at the station quickly realised a mistake had been made, he is yet to receive an apology.
He was also given a bill of £55 to fix the doors at his home – but estimates the total cost of repairs could come to £3,000.
He now intends to pursue the force for damages, saying he has since struggled with insomnia, shakes and heart palpitations.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said the case had been referred to the police watchdog.